Just as Hoya had told her, Nicole left the house an hour before the sunset. She had managed to sneak away during her chores and into the forest. She knew it was wrong of her to disappear without saying a word to Mother but seeing Father was more important right now. She had so many questions for him.

Nicole saw Hoya standing and waiting for her further down the trail. She was greeted with a warm hug, which surprised her a bit, but she didn’t complain. She was just as excited to see him. But of course, she was even more excited to see her father.

“Let’s go,” he said, offering her a hand to lead her through the forest. Though she had no trouble walking by herself, she took his hand anyway. As the two walked through the woods, Nicole tried to take note of the route so she would be able to find herself next time, but everywhere she looked, it was just an endless amount of trees so she gave up trying.

It wasn’t long until they reached the familiar cave, and this time she saw the Hoya’s group of friends gathered around the middle starting a campfire. Hoya gave Nicole a reassuring smile before leading her over to the group.

“Look who’s back?” Nicole recognized the blonde man named Dongwoo.

“So this is Dongwon sunbae’s daughter?” a boy with feminine features asked, peering at her closely.

“She looks nothing like him,” a man with small eyes said. He looked more like a rabbit than a wolf to her.

“Where’s Dongwon sunbae?” Hoya asked, pulling Nicole gently to sit down with him on the log.

“He said he had some matters to take care of and will be back shortly,” the sculpture man answered.

Nicole simply nodded, still too shy to speak up around these foreign men. She held her hands out towards the fire, appreciating the warmth in the cool weather. The sun went down awfully quickly in the winter days, leaving them with a blanket of darkness.

“So, what’s your name?” Dongwoo asked, taking a seat on the other side of her.

“Nicole,” she answered meekly.

“You don’t have to be so shy. We don’t bite. Well at least not unless you piss us off,” he grinned, showing off his sharp fangs. Nicole starred with wide-eyes unsure of whether to be scared or amazed.

“Dongwoo, stop scaring her,” Hoya said, putting an arm around her and pulling her close to him protectively.

“Geez Hoya, you know I was just playing with her. Anyway, I’m Dongwoo,” he said.

“I’m Sunggyu,” the rabbit-looking man said.

The rest of them briefly introduced her name and Nicole tried hard to memorize the rest of their names: The youngest was Sungjong, the tallest one was Sungyeol, the sculptured-face one was Myungsoo, Woohyun also had small eyes but he had more hair than Sunggyu.

Nicole couldn’t wait for her father to be back to finally meet him. She had so many questions to ask him like why he left her and mom. And how did he find these people who are supposedly all werewolves. These people didn’t seem to be bad people so she knew her father was probably not a bad man either. At least she hoped so.

She was about to turn to ask Hoya if he could talk to her father in his mind like he does with her and tell him to return quickly, when he stood up suddenly, scaring her out of her seat.

“Something’s wrong,” he stated, causing the rest of them to stop what they were doing immediately.

“That smell,” Myungsoo said with wide eyes.

“We have to go now!” Hoya commanded. Nicole stared with fear-filled eyes as the seven men before her changed into the monsters her Grandmother hated most. She’s seen Hoya transform before but that was in the dark. With the campfire illuminating everything, it became so much more clear and frightening.

Their bones cracked as their entire body contorted and grew a thick coat of fur. Their hands grew into large paws with long claws, far bigger than the size of a bear’s. Their skulls morphed into one of an animal, snapping their large snouts and showing their dangerous teeth.

Nicole, get on my back. Hoya’s voice rang in her head as the black wolf with glowing hazel eyes stared at her. Hesitantly, she climbed on, worried that she may be too heavy.

Hold on tight. Where was she supposed to hold on to? She held onto his fur gently, not wanting to hurt him. When the pack took off, Nicole almost fell off and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging onto him tight.

The pack raced through the forest with such speed that Nicole was surprised none of them hit a tree.  The moment they reached the edge of the village, all hell broke loose.

Hoya had stopped to let Nicole off his back but before she could stop them, the rest of them had already charged into the village. There were screams of men and gunshots being fired.

“Hoya, tell them to stop!” She yelled at Hoya who was standing beside her watching the scene unfold.

When he stood without moving, she ran out of the forest herself. She looked around frantically at the blood spilled across the village grounds. Bodies lay on the floor motionless; bodies of people she knew.

It was then she noticed the smell coming from the large fire in the middle and what was burning in it; a wolf’s body. From the size of it, she knew it wasn’t just an ordinary wolf. It was one of them and if she was right, this was her father.

She turned her attention to the cry of one of the wolves to see that one of them had been shot. Without thinking twice, she ran over and threw herself over the wolf’s body, shielding him from Seulong’s father’s gun. “Please stop!”

“What’re you doing, Nicole? Get away from that beast!” he yelled, refusing to put down his gun.

“Please, let them go,” she cried, hugging the wolf tight.

“Are you crazy? Do you want more people to die?” he asked, exasperated.

“You already killed one of them, just let them go!” she screamed, pointing at the fire ablaze behind them.

“One is not enough. Until they’re all dead, none of us are safe!”

Suddenly, she ran towards him and grabbed his gun, trying to pull it out of his hands. As the two struggled, she screamed, “Run!”

Within seconds, the wolves had all disappeared into the forest again. Seulong’s father pushed Nicole to the ground and gave her a look of disgust. “Tie her up and lock her in the shed. We’ll decide what to do with her tomorrow.”